


Pilfered Jade

by CourierNinetyTwo



Category: League of Legends
Genre: F/F, Lunar Revel AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 17:26:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13462998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CourierNinetyTwo/pseuds/CourierNinetyTwo
Summary: Caitlyn has watched Vi serve as an Imperial Enforcer from afar. When she closes the distance, the price is losing her heart.





	Pilfered Jade

**Author's Note:**

> Commissioned by kasumikamigawa!

Her kills were artistry.

To an untrained eye, Vi's style might have looked like chaos, an unshackled sort of brutality without rhyme or reason, but Caitlyn had learned otherwise. A heavy swing from the Enforcer's gauntlet sent another bandit flying, his head snapping back in a clean arc, and the man's entire body bent like a bow before collapsing against the snow, that vital string severed. Ice cracked under Vi's feet as she lunged for the next bandit, catching him by the chest in an all-encompassing metallic grip, and slammed him straight down into the ground with a bone-shattering crack. His last breath sent a curl of steam through the air, the mist tinged with red.

With two of their number dispatched in seconds, the rest of the bandits stumbled back to get out of the Enforcer's range, circling her with weapons bared like so many blunt, useless teeth. Vi shrugged off blade and spear alike with the armor cloaking her legs and shoulders, deflecting their desperate strikes away from the center of her body with weighty backhands and crushing uppercuts. Caitlyn quietly marveled at how Vi balanced the heft of the gauntlets between strikes, letting her body's momentum do half the work for her rather than constantly struggling against gravity.

"You're probably wondering what you did to deserve someone like me," Vi declared with a smirk, her face flush with adrenaline as she shook the remnants of someone's dented armor from one gigantic fist, "Because you just attacked some poor little border village."

From her ethereal perch, Caitlyn covered her laugh with slender fingers when one of the bandits took Vi's words as a sign of mercy, raising his arms up in a sign of surrender. "Exactly! You're an honorable enforcer, aren't you? Surely some coin would hasten you to a town the kingdom cares about more-"

His next breath was knocked out of him with a blow to the gut, but Vi didn't let the impact shove the bandit back far before catching him in her other gauntlet, massive mechanical fingers wrapping around the man's ribs and threatening to squeeze tight. She lifted the bandit up off his feet, bringing them both eye to eye.

"Do you see the seal engraved on these gauntlets?" Vi slowly turned her wrist this way and that, ignoring the nausea climbing up the bandit's face as he was rocked like a wooden toy. "You've got to the count of five to answer. One..."

The thumb of her gauntlet pressed into the man's gut and he let out a howl of pain, struggling before managing to gasp, "Yes, I see it!"

"It's the same mark of imperial protection that's on the gate of the village you think I don't care about." Vi waited a beat, just long enough for fear to fill his gaze. "Maybe you should tell your friends to run."

"R-nn!" He choked halfway through the first syllable before Vi tossed him like a spear, sending the bandit colliding into the rest of his raiding party.

"Never mind." Vi flexed both of her gauntlets into tight fists, emerald energy sparking between each joint until the seals on them glowed bright with power. "I'll send you to the heavens myself."

Her next charge forward was explosive, a blade of verdant light that sliced across the horizon like a burning star. In her celestial wake, Vi tore through every bandit at once, the impact carrying each one of them along until the last punch landed, sending their leader crashing into the distant face of the mountain. An aura of stone splintered around him, leaving behind a jagged outline before his body fell straight forward into melting snow, the cold hissing and crackling before Vi's power cooled once more.

Caitlyn had never seen anything quite like it. She watched the evolution of human invention with idle fascination, as most wraiths were wont to do, but it was Vi's spirit that continued to draw her in. The weapons did not matter so much as the indomitable will that wielded them, the strength in the body now walking over the bandits' bodies like inconvenient stones in the road. Vi's victorious laugh rang louder than war drums, echoing across the mountain range as she turned back to the village she had just so staunchly defended.

Hiding in the snow was simple enough, and Caitlyn let the color fade from her corporeal shape before moving to follow. She was a ghost of glass behind Vi, listening as the Enforcer's ragged breaths of exertion fell back into an even rhythm, escaping between her teeth like a dragon's smoke. Caitlyn expected Vi to go straight to the village chief and claim a well-deserved reward, but the other woman hooked around the blacksmith's forge instead.

It was far too cold to work steel, meaning the smith herself was not inside, but that didn't stop Vi from jostling the door open with a hard shove of one shoulder. She disappeared into the shadows, and Caitlyn blended with the darkness itself to stay concealed, watching curiously as Vi approached the huge trough used for quenching metal. There was a thick rime of ice sealing off the water underneath, but a hard tap of one metallic knuckle punched through it before Vi let out a hiss of pain.

The seals on her gauntlets flared and a series of grinding clicks followed as the mechanisms inside them opened, allowing Vi to pull her arms free. Each gauntlet hit the floor with a solid thud, but the Enforcer ignored the noise and dropped to one knee, plunging both arms into the icy water until she was soaked to her biceps. Muscle flexed and twitched at the sudden change in temperature, but Vi squeezed her eyes shut, drawing in a rough breath between clenched teeth.

 _Those hurt her_ , Caitlyn realized a second later, the revelation sending a confusing ache twisting through her chest. Vi stayed kneeling even as the water sapped the heat from her flesh, leaving it pale and stiff, and muttered a curse while slowly rolling her wrists, fingers flexing and relaxing to retain their mobility.

"Just a little while longer," Vi murmured under her breath. "I want to be able to sleep tonight."

Another long stretch of silence passed before Vi drew her arms free of the water, and without any other respite, used the blacksmith's hanging apron to dry off. Even without the bulk of the gauntlets, the strength in her body was unmistakable, and Caitlyn's eyes swept over that newly exposed skin, tapering down Vi's forearms to the shape of her hands.

After rolling the tension from her shoulders, Vi picked up the gauntlets, hoisting them both under her arms like barrels before walking out of the blacksmith's forge again. Caitlyn had barely darted through the entryway when the door was kicked shut, and she let out a little huff while watching Vi make her way towards the only tavern the village had. That was where she was sleeping, Caitlyn knew, and finally curiosity got the best of her.

Recalling the shape of her flesh, Caitlyn stepped back into the whole of her body again, casting a glamour over her clothes. There was only so much she could do to hide her nature, but it was always amusing to take on the guise of a noblewoman and watch those who saw her struggle to place her rank and house. If only they knew she ruled in a hierarchy above humankind itself.

Not that it mattered: for tonight, Caitlyn fully intended to come to earth.

Once the blue glow of power dissipated from her skin, she walked into the inn as if that had been her intent all along. Vi was sitting at a table in the back, her gauntlets shoved underneath it, and cradled a warm cup of tea between both hands. A hint of fruit carried from its aroma, and Caitlyn recognized the deep jade color, its presence like spring trapped in porcelain. She smiled to herself before approaching the proprietor, a young man who did a very poor job of concealing his surprise when she stopped in front of him.

He bowed deeply, hands hidden in his sleeves before rising up. "Be welcome. This inn is humble, but..."

"I seek a favor. Or rather, three." Caitlyn interrupted, but kept her expression disarmingly demure when his eyes widened. "A cup of tea, something sweet, and to know which room that woman is residing in this evening."

Her voice was low, scarcely a whisper, and Caitlyn reached across the counter before placing her hand over the innkeeper's. A spectral blue serpent slipped out from one silken sleeve, and when its fangs sank invisibly into his skin, the young man's eyes glowed blue.

"Of course." He whispered back, awe filling his gaze before drifting back into the kitchen to obey.

A surreptitious glance revealed that Vi hadn't noticed the exchange at all, lost in thought while recovering from the day's battle. Caitlyn's eyes fell to the gauntlets nestled by her feet, bloodied and welded together by imprecise hands. It was no surprise that they hurt to wield, for the amount of pressure on a user's arms must have been unbearable. The fact that Vi showed no signs of suffering at all during the fight was nothing short of extraordinary.

"Your tea, most gracious one." The proprietor whispered, drawing Caitlyn's attention back to the counter. "And something sweet."

The tea itself was twin with Vi's, coils of heat swirling from its surface, but beside it was freshly fried dough glittering with sugar, its rings twisting back on itself like a snake eating its own tail. She tore a piece of the dessert free, glad that her tongue did not burn as easily as a human's before she devoured it in one satisfied swallow.

"And the room?" Caitlyn asked, her hands framing the tray the fare was balanced on.

"At the top." He said, smile still bright with awe. "There's no lock on the door, but she wasn't worried about anyone breaking in."

"I see." Obviously Vi had little reason to fear intruders, but Caitlyn found it fortuitous nonetheless. "Go and rest, good friend. You are not in my sights tonight."

His excitement bled into fatigue in seconds, and Caitlyn knew he would be slumbering soundly soon enough. She put him out of her thoughts, approaching the table where Vi sat, and was only a few steps away when the Enforcer's eyes locked on hers.

"You a traveler looking for company?" There was a curious glint in Vi's eyes, a faint smile tugging at the line of her mouth, just below the colorful swirl of a tattoo. "No one has the coin for a dress like that outside the kingdom capital."

"Perhaps 'wanderer' would be a better word," Caitlyn countered, and when her gaze fell to the chair opposite Vi, the Enforcer immediately nudged the gauntlet close to it away so she could sit. "Thank you."

"Of course. Not going to leave a lady standing." Vi said with a grin, then took another deep sip of her tea.

Caitlyn set the dessert between the two of them after taking her seat, demurring with a sip of her own cup. "Then share this with me. Generosity can't only go one way."

The hesitation in Vi's face looked instinctive, but she pushed past it and stripped a coil of dough off the plate, barely chewing before gulping it down. "Thanks."

"I would have thought an imperial soldier would be well-fed." Caitlyn commented softly, looking at Vi over the jade mirror of her tea.

"We are." Vi's smile shrunk an inch, but she seemed sincere. "But when I was younger, I was used to taking or starving. Taking from someone who looks like you, well...that's how you get a hand chopped off."

"If you're caught." She reached for another piece of the dessert just as Vi did, letting her knuckles brush briefly against calloused fingers. "Your hands look intact to me."

"It helps when they're wrapped in more metal than a royal statue." Vi murmured around a large bite, then covered it by gulping down the dregs in her cup.

"I know." Here she would have to dance carefully, exposing her desire without rousing the Enforcer's suspicion. "I watched you fighting in the snow."

Tension creased Vi's brow, her head tilting an inch to the side. "And what did you think?"

Caitlyn weighed her words for a moment, leaning forward just enough that the length of her hair spilled down her shoulders in a wave of red. "I thought you were beautiful."

Color immediately flared across Vi's face, and the sudden evidence that the Enforcer might not be used to compliments filled Caitlyn with a gleeful satisfaction. Those she would offer gladly, whisper in Vi's ear while they joined under the moonlight.

"Is that why you came to my table?" Vi asked, her eyes flickering towards the counter to check for the innkeeper. He wasn't there, of course; Caitlyn knew the fewer eyes on them, the better. "Because you think I'm beautiful?"

"I came because you are a warrior of consummate skill." Caitlyn let one hand rest on the table, mere inches from the Enforcer's. "And because I expect your passion extends beyond the fight and the kill, that it burns for more than victory."

For a moment, Vi was silent, and Caitlyn wasn't sure if she had overplayed her hand. Then the other woman stood up from her seat, drawing a single fingertip up the line of Caitlyn's hand, between her knuckles and back again.

"Finish your dessert," Vi whispered, her touch denied with as much subtlety as it was first given, "Then if you're still hungry, come upstairs."

It was a bold offer, but that boldness was exactly what had drawn Caitlyn to her in the first place, and she smiled to herself as Vi retrieved her gauntlets and retreated to the room on the next floor with measured steps.

She didn't have to look outside to know the sun was setting, that soon the glamour would fade from her skin whether she wished it to or not. Caitlyn stole one last bit of sweetness from the plate before rising from her seat, walking whisper-silent up the stairs. Vi's door was open an inch at the far end of the hall in blatant invitation, and Caitlyn pushed it open just enough to slip through the narrow gap and close the latch behind her.

Any room at a rustic inn like this possessed only the bare necessities; a chest for one's valuables, a lantern to read by, and a bed well-hewn enough to last the seasons. The latter was where she found Vi sitting, looking somewhat surprised as Caitlyn pierced the glow of candlelight and stopped a single pace away from her boots.

"Do I even want to know who you really are?" Vi asked, even as her eyes swept over Caitlyn from head to toe, taking her body in. "Is there a noble at court who's going to have it out for my head if anyone finds out I've touched you?"

"No one has claim on me." Not in the mortal world, where she now dared to tread. "So call me Caitlyn, and forget about titles."

"I'm Vi." She said it in way of introduction, although Caitlyn had learned her name long ago. "At your service."

"I don't need service." Darkness was pouring through the window now, the sun's last gasps clawing at the edge of the horizon. "But I will take a kiss."

The moment permission was given, Vi rose from the bed and seized it with fervor, capturing Caitlyn's mouth with heat and pressure. She answered it with ardor, chasing that warmth and solid contact, clinging to it like an anchor as the glamour slipped away from her skin, washed from reality by the ascension of the night. Power turned Caitlyn's veins to cobalt, a cerulean glow pouring through her gaze, supple flesh revealed as empyrean marble.

"What-" Vi broke away from her lips with a gasp of shock, "You're not human?"

"You know that noblewomen never travel alone, Vi." It was a pleasure to say the Enforcer's name now, to wrap her lips around it with the fierceness of their kiss. "Do you want a gentle court flower wilting in your bed, or do you want _me_?"

Awe and desire warred in Vi's gaze, clashing back and forth until she let out a shaking breath. "I want you."

"Then take this blessing for what it is." Caitlyn's hands framed Vi's shoulders, guiding her down against the length of the bed. "A warrior's just prize."

Her fingers searched for the clasps of Vi's armor, freeing buckle from buckle until the guard encircling each shoulder came loose. The long drape of the tunic underneath was more easily dealt with, and Caitlyn didn't bother to hide her pleasure at the lithe form she exposed, the hardness of taut muscle in contrast to the softer curves of Vi's breasts. She had to dislodge the heavy protection of Vi's boots before peeling off the trousers and underthings below, leaving the other woman completely bare.

"You've got me at a disadvantage." Vi said with a laugh, although she seemed comfortable in her nudity, with starlight dancing over her skin like silver. "Where do I start with that dress?"

"Here." Caitlyn's fingers looped around Vi's wrists, drawing both hands to the tight lacing concealed at the small of her back. "Once that's open, the rest..."

The line of woven gold and jewels across her front went slack as Vi tugged the laces open, her fingers strong enough to free them with a single pull. Caitlyn let the sheath of the dress sink to her hips before she lifted her knees one by one, offering Vi enough room to urge it lower, before the tangle of fabric slipped from around Caitlyn's ankles and down to the floor. When Vi saw she wore nothing underneath, her grunt of surprise made Caitlyn smile.

"If I'd known you looked like this, I don't think we would have finished dessert." Vi confessed into their next kiss, and Caitlyn laughed softly against her lips while their bodies aligned.

A hiss of pleasure escaped her when Vi's hands sought out her breasts, teasing along smooth, pale skin. "I welcome your worship, Vi, but I have other plans."

"What kind of plans would those be?" Vi asked, even though she was already kissing down Caitlyn's jaw.

"The sort where you lay back and relax with your hands above your head." Despite the pleasant contact, Caitlyn captured Vi's wrists once more, guiding them up towards the pillow into the position she desired. "Your arms ache, don't they? With every strike, with every blow, it wears on you."

"I can take it." Vi protested, mouth twisting in a frown. "You don't have to be soft with me."

"Oh, I know, but it is your pleasure I seek and not your pain." Caitlyn's tongue painted a hot line up the pulse in Vi's throat, stopping just short of her ear to whisper, "So let me show you what _my_ hands can do first."

Her offer was answered by a groan of need, and Caitlyn's smile was sharp as the crescent moon before she relaxed her hold around Vi's arms. Sparks of blue energy jumped from her fingertips as she traced down the inside of each wrist, soothing magic soaking into knots of muscle, splitting like the branches of a river up to Vi's elbows, to the rigid line of her shoulders. The cool energy made the Enforcer shiver, but as Caitlyn's hands joined at the points of her collarbones and delved lower, a moan wound its way from deep in Vi's throat.

"This is a hell of a way to relax." Vi choked out, nipples hardening to tight peaks when Caitlyn toyed with them, cupping both breasts before giving them a firm squeeze.

"I know what battle does for you. How your blood sings." Caitlyn lingered where she was a moment longer, Vi's heart hammering right under her palms. "Mine does too, when the hunt is on."

"When do I get to see _you_ fight?" The question was shaky, thanks to Caitlyn's fingers framing her ribs, caressing down the line of her stomach.

"My rifle is nothing like the crude gunpowder most in the kingdom use." Caitlyn drew the line of her nail from hip to hip, the light scratch making Vi's hips twitch. "If I fired a single shot, it would look like the wrath of the heavens in your eyes."

"Now I want to see even more." Vi gasped, her knees spreading wider apart to welcome Caitlyn's seeking hand, the smooth palm that cupped between her thighs. "Caitlyn..."

Slick heat answered her touch, Vi's folds swollen and wet. There was nothing quite like the fire that radiated under a human's skin, burning bright in defiance of mortality, and Caitlyn savored it with slow strokes, each one parting Vi open until she was straining for more friction, to taken in deep and be taken in turn. Caitlyn smiled, the glow of pleasure shining through her eyes with a pulse of violet.

"Turn over onto your stomach." The command was paired with another slow touch, enough to make Vi's hips cant up off the mattress.

Distracted or not, a spark of rebellion lit up the Enforcer's gaze. "Why do you want me to do that?"

"You'll find out." Cailyn answered lightly, her fingertip circling the swell of Vi's clit with a barely-there caress. "Unless you want me to stop."

Whatever internal struggle Vi went through with her pride ended in seconds, and she rolled over to be face-first on the bed. When she started to put her weight on her arms, though, Caitlyn let out a chiding click of her tongue, one hand pushing on Vi's back to force her head down against the pillow instead.

"Relax, warrior." As a show of encouragement, Caitlyn draped herself across Vi from behind, her breasts soft against the rigid muscle of the other woman's back. "I have more than enough power to take care of you."

"I'm starting to think I might have bitten off more than I can chew." Vi mumbled into the fabric.

Caitlyn's fingers paused a mere centimeter from Vi's entrance, the lunar serpent trapped underneath her skin taut with unspent energy. "Does that mean you want me to stop?"

"Hell, no." The curse ended on a groan when Caitlyn finally slipped inside her, one finger delving deep. "Just means I better learn how to swallow."

Delight lit up Caitlyn's face, even if Vi couldn't see from this position. "Oh, I promise we'll get to that."

Before Vi could say another word, Caitlyn thrust a second finger to the knuckle, indulging in the slow stretch around them both before starting up a firm rhythm. Her other arm wrapped around Vi's chest, seeking her breasts so she could play with each hard, sensitive peak. When her hands fell in sync, Caitlyn's breath quickened against the nape of Vi's neck, one of her knees wedging against the inside of the Enforcer's to keep them spread apart.

"Caitlyn." Vi's voice was lower now, bliss leaving her gasping as Caitlyn's fingers curled just so, enough to provoke another long moan. "Give me more. I can take more."

The wraith would have teased her about being a masochist, except it was pleasure that Vi was hungry for and not pain. That she could offer in full, and Caitlyn's hand abandoned the teasing exploration of Vi's breasts, skirting down the muscle of her stomach and feeling it jump before she found a new target. Caitlyn started to rub circles around Vi's clit the moment her fingers sunk into another firm thrust, and her reward was a choked, staggered sound.

Every bit of skill and control she had ever learned went into keeping Vi captured between her hands, the two opposing rhythms making the Enforcer's hips squirm and jerk. No matter which way she twisted, Caitlyn ensured there was another deliberate touch, and when Vi's breath spiked with exertion and need, she eased in a third finger beside the first two. With one more quick loop around her clit, the balanced tipped, and Vi clenched tight around Caitlyn's fingers, her fists making a mess out of the sheets. The same hands that could punch through stone were now tangled in mere cotton, a rough cry of ecstasy leaving Vi's throat.

"I do enjoy the way you move." Caitlyn whispered against the back of Vi's ear, and by degrees, her fingers slowed, drawing out the aftershocks of orgasm until oversensitivity made itself known with another muffled groan. "Doesn't that feel better, Vi?"

"Feel?" A breathless laugh followed, ripe with languor. "I don't think I can feel my knees after that."

"Then it's a good thing you don't need them for now." The wraith teased, withdrawing her hands completely to turn Vi back around, wanting to see the flush of heat across the Enforcer's face. "My plans lay elsewhere."

"Is that so?" Vi grinned, her gaze warm and eager. "Going to give me something sweet?"

So her playful comment earlier hadn't been mistaken. Caitlyn returned the grin with a pleased smile of her own, shifting to straddle Vi's head. There wasn't anywhere to brace herself against except the wall, but that didn't matter much when powerful fingers came to grip the curve of her ass, giving it a firm squeeze.

"I know you told me to relax my arms," Vi murmured, turning her head to kiss along the inside of one marble thigh, tongue swiping across a twisting pulse of magic, "but how am I supposed to hold back when you're so close?"

"Perhaps I can forgive you." The measured lilt in Caitlyn's voice briefly quavered when Vi followed the seam of thigh and hip with her tongue, so very close to her prize. "If you earn it."

Even from the angle below, she caught the glint of challenge in Vi's gaze. "Oh, I know how to prove myself."

With the first sweep of the other woman's tongue across her folds, Caitlyn was sure of it. The world around her fell out of focus, locked on the sensation of Vi's mouth spreading her open, bringing heat to heat. She was dripping wet after feeling Vi break underneath her, and the Enforcer seemed determined to take full advantage of that, licking up every stray drop of arousal before pressing the flat of her tongue against the base of Caitlyn's clit.

"Vi..." Keeping her palms pressed against the wall simply wasn't enough; one of Caitlyn's hands fell, finding purchase in dark hair and gripping tight.

The warrior's response was another swift stroke from entrance to clit, and Caitlyn could feel power blooming under her skin with every touch, eager to ignite in the moonlight. When Vi's tongue thrust inside her, working as deep as it could, Caitlyn's hips jerked, tension spiraling through her thighs and up the length of her back. She wouldn't be anchored at all if not for Vi's tight grip from behind, keeping her cupped in place like a ceremonial offering.

Despite her obvious eagerness, Vi wasn't in a rush. Every time a swipe of her tongue earned a sound, whenever her nose bumped against Caitlyn's clit and made her gasp, she would repeat the movement, bringing an echo of pleasure that pulsed hot and quick between the other woman's thighs. It built on itself like the tide, smaller waves of bliss spilling back into larger ones, the pull away from shore that much more satisfying when the next clash of sensation returned, until Caitlyn was shaking with need.

In that moment, she didn't care at all that Vi was mortal. Caitlyn was flesh and blood too for now, just long enough to feel this and moan for more, impatience bidding her to tug Vi's head upward, until the warrior's mouth was flush between her thighs, lips sealed around her clit and sucking between clever, insistent licks. She was so close, hanging right on that desperate edge, but the moment she looked down to meet Vi's eyes, the longing reflected in them sent Caitlyn flying over it.

Bliss sent magic pulsing from her body in ripples of iridescent blue and purple, Caitlyn's skin nearly shining silver while she rode Vi's mouth through every peak of pleasure, refusing to stop until she ached for mercy from head to toe. Having to gasp so hard for breath was new, but deeply satisfying in its own way, and Caitlyn released her iron grip on Vi's hair to stroke the mussed tangles from it instead, offering praise while she tried to recover her ability to speak.

"Never seen anyone like you before." Vi whispered against her skin; she was out of breath too, chin slick with evidence of Caitlyn's release. "How did you find me?"

That was a question best answered face-to-face, so Caitlyn found the will to unfold her knees and lay down on the bed beside Vi, although she never broke contact for more than a split second while doing so. "I saw you from the sky."

"Like, literally or..." Glancing out the window of their room at the fullness of the moon, Vi's jaw dropped a little. "Never mind, I got it."

"Humans often think my kind is demonic, you know." Caitlyn murmured, hiding the words in the curve of Vi's shoulder.

"If the first time I saw you was with a rifle aimed at my chest, I might have jumped to the wrong conclusion too," Vi teased, threading her fingers through the length of Caitlyn's hair like a thousand red threads, "But you found me all the way in the snow."

The wraith's heart ached in her chest, twisting so tight that she thought the fragile organ might rend itself into pieces. Caitlyn knew she couldn't stay, not when conflict in the heavens would call her back sooner or later, but such was her fate, just as Vi's destiny was bound to the earth, to the imperial lands she was pledged to protect.

"That's a sour look." Vi noted with a raised brow. "I don't really think you're a demon. Most powerful woman I've ever seen, but..."

Caitlyn silenced her with a deep kiss, lingering long enough that Vi gasped against her lips. "I wasn't insulted. But is talking really the best way to spend the rest of this night together?"

"Guess not." Now Vi was smiling, and that made the inevitable so much easier to bear. "Especially considering how good my arms feel right now."

Without another word, Caitlyn pulled Vi on top of her, whispering sweet nothings and encouragement. She wanted these memories sealed in stone, carving as many as possible into her mind with every exchanged touch and breath. When the deepest hours of the night began to wane and exhaustion took hold, Caitlyn found herself wrapped in Vi's embrace, gentle human breath tickling her ear as sleep drew the warrior away from consciousness.

Not wishing to wake her, Caitlyn stretched out her arm over the edge of the bed, summoning the serpent from beneath her skin. It escaped through her fingertips, slithering silently towards where Vi's gauntlets lay on the floor. Magic poured through the creature as she willed it to curve around the dented metal, serving as the architect of her will.

Brass and iron was made anew into unyielding gold, polished and clean. Every jagged point within the gauntlets' mechanisms were worn smooth, molded to fit Vi's hands and wrap around her fingers like velvet. A dozen scratched imperial seals were stricken from sight by a sprout of jade, one that grew and swelled like a living thing, sculpted by the slow design of Caitlyn's fingers until it resembled a dragon, teeth bared in defiance. She did the same with the second gauntlet, detailing the fierce creature's features with another gilded patina.

 _My gift to you, warrior mine_ , Caitlyn thought, having to hold her tongue for fear of disturbing Vi's slumber. The wraith prayed it would be enough to prove her favor, a show of devotion despite the approaching dawn calling her away.

She turned with care in Vi's arms, placing the softest kiss she could on the Enforcer's lips. The mote of heat that lingered on Caitlyn's skin began to fade as the rest of her body did, abandoning flesh for spirit. A shiver went through Vi's body at the pulse of cold from the transformation, and Caitlyn wished more than anything that she could soothe it with her own warmth once more.

The next full moon, she would return, and find Vi no matter where the kingdoms took her.

\--

 


End file.
